Inside and outside of Oakland

Since last year, Republicans have been hogging the limelight through debates and a contentious primary schedule, trying to whittle down a large field to a single candidate the GOP can back for the November election against President Barack Obama. Democrats say their turn is coming up.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, a book mysteriously appeared on my chair at work. It was called "You Can Lead A Politician To Water But You Can't Make Him Think."
It was by Texas humorist Kinky Friedman, who irreverently spoke in part of running as an independent for Texas governor in 2006, and no, he didn't win.
But his book proved so popular that it has been passed around and I no longer have it. No doubt it was the humorous parts that made it so readable, like his proposal to use gambling money for education called "Slots for Tots." And the anecdote about offering then-President Bill Clinton a banned Cuban cigar with the advice that the president view it not as supporting the Cuban economy, but as burning their crops.
In 2012, the first book that has shown up is called "Grover Cleveland's Rubber Jaw & Other Unexpected, Unbelievable But All-True Facts About America's Presidents."

If redistricting — the process of drawing new political districts every 10 years after the U.S. Census — produced anything, it's a game of musical chairs, especially in Michigan's newly drawn 14th Congressional District.

Mitt Romney's three wins Tuesday in Republican presidential nominating contests in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia gives him a solid lead over Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.